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V. 28. This was a happy and a holy use to make of his place of nearness to God. Thus it is ever.—C. H. M." V. 32. We see in this Scripture that how blessed so ever Abraham’s intercession might be, yet it was limited, because the intercessor was but a man. It did not reach the need. He ceased to ask, and God ceased to give. Not so our blessed Intercessor. Of him it can be said, “He is able to save to the uttermost,” . . . seeing he ever liveth to make intercession.”—C. H. M. * Few readers will need to be reminded of how all this blessedly contrasts with the Lord’s intercession for us as in John 17, “Father, I will;” or in Luke 22:32; Heb. 4:15, 6:25; 1 John 3:1, etc. Here, likewise, we see that Abra ham ceased pleading ere God ceased giving.—Lincoln. How striking are the words of Samuel teaching us that we are actually sinning against God if we do not pray for others! (1 Sam. 12:23.) Do we clearly realize this? Does it not make us ashamed and' even afraid when we remem ber how little we pray for others as compared with our prayers for ourselves? And yet there is scarcely any part of prayer more prominent in the New Testament than prayer for others (Jas. 5:16; 2 Thess. 3:1; Eph. 6:17, 18; 1 Tim. 2:1).—Griffith Thomas. 19:1. We find Lot "sitting in the gate o l Sodom,” the place of authority. He has evidently made progress. He has “got on in the world.” Looked at from a worldly point of view, his course has been a successful one. He at first “pitched his tent toward Sodom.” Then, no doubt, he found his way into it; and now we find him sitting in the gate—a prominent, influential post. It could not be said, “By faith Lot sat in the gate of Sodom.”—G. H. M. V. 13. It is a bitter thing to seek, in any wise, to man age for ourselves; we are sure to make the most grievous mistakes. It is infinitely better to allow God to order all our ways for us, to commit them all, in the spirit of a little child, to Him who is so willing and so able to manage for us.—-C. H. M. V. 14. His testimony had no power. He had lived too long as one of themselves, without any very real difference, to allow of his message being of any avail. When the testi mony of the life does not agree with the testimony of the lips the latter always goes unheeded. It is the life that is the true light.—Griffith Thomas. If a man will mingle with the world for the purpose of self-aggrandizement, he must make up his mind to endure the sad consequences. We cannot profit by the world, and at the same time bear effectual testimony against its wick- edness.—C. H. M. V. 15. When the restraints of the Divine law are re moved or set at naught there are scarcely any limits to human degeneracy and depravity (Rom. 1:21-31; 2 Pet. 2:8; Jude 7, 8).—Griffith Thomas. V. 24. Whence once the Lord speaks out in judgment, there is no mistake as if feebleness were in His arm, or as if hesitation were in His purpose. Men may have thought there was whilst He delayed His blow. They misunder stand His long-suffering, even as they will do the end (2 Pet. 3).—Lincoln. V. 26. Her motives for looking back are not hard to conceive and we need not dwell upon them now, but ob serve how Jesus applies this circumstance to the end of the age (Luke 17:31-33), and note that He thus not only warns us concerning that period but guarantees the authenticity of this whole story.^James M. Gray. What a commentary is Lot’s history upon that brief but comprehensive admonition, “Love not the world!”—O. H. M. .'i/. One day Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent when three men, sent from God, came to him. Seeing they were from God, Abraham ran to meet them, bowing to the ground before them. He invited them to stay in his tent, and rest. He washed the dust from their ELEMENTARY feet, and gave them a good meal. They Kate H. Haus asked where Sarah, his wife, was. (One of these three men was the Lord.) When Abraham said she was in the tent, the Lord said, “Sarah is going to have a son.” Sarah was behind the tent
door listening. When she heard that, she laughed, be cause she was an old, old woman. The Lord heard her laugh, and asked, “Is anything too hard for Me to do?” Sarah was frightened, and tried to deny the laugh, but the Lord said, “You did laugh.” (God hears and sees all we do.) Then the three men went toward Sodom, and Abra ham went with them. Abraham was a good man, who loved God and served Him. Because of that, the Lord told him He was going to burn up Sodom and Gomorrah, because their wickedness was so great, and because they would not repent. Lot lived in Sodom, so Abraham began praying God to save Sodom. He prayed, “If 50 good men are found there, will it be saved?” God said, “Yes.” Then Abraham prayed again and said, “If 40 good men are found, will it be saved?” God said, “Yes.” Then Abraham kept on praying till he got down to, “If 10 good men are found there will it be saved?” God said, “Yes.” But 10 good men were not found in the wicked cities. At night, God sent two angels to Sodom to save Lot for Abraham’s sake. These angels told Lot to take his wife and daughters and run to the mountains for safety, as God was going to burn up the wicked cities, and all the people in them. “Don’t look back,” said the angels, “or you will
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be punished.” Lot, his wife and daughters started for the mountains as fast as they could go. On the way, Lot’s wife turned to look back, and at once God turned her into salt. Lot and his daughters did not know this, until they got to the mountains; then they found out how God had pun ished her for looking back. The Lord sent fire from heaven upon Sodom and Gomor rah, and when morning came, both cities were burned to the ground, and not one left alive. When Abraham looked toward Sodom in the morning, he saw nothing but smoke. •The reason God does not punish people that way now is because Jesus has come, and He is giving them a chance to come to Jesus and be saved. Memory Verse: -“Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee, so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.” Jer. 38:20. NOVEMBER 25, 1923 THE BIRTH AND OFFERING OF ISAAC Genesis, Chapters 2 1 , 2 2 Golden Text: “And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.” Gen. 22:12.
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